Over a year after its launch as a PlayStation exclusive, Horizon Forbidden West has helped plant over 600,000 trees as part of Guerrilla Games’ reforestation project.

On February 18  2022, Horizon Forbidden West was released on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It received positive reviews, with both critics and casual players complimenting the design and beauty of its vast open-world exploration. To help make the real Earth more beautiful, Guerrilla Games’ collaborated with organizations around the world as part of the United Nations Playing for the Planet Alliance creating a reforestation project. From February 18, 2022, to March 25, 2022, Sony would plant a tree for each player that unlocked the “Reach the Daunt” trophy. 

The project’s original goal was to plant a minimum of 288,000 trees regardless of how many players actually unlocked the trophy. “Reach the Daunt,” however, is very achievable. The Daunt is the first large-scale region once players complete the tutorial, roughly two hours into the game. After completing the first two-story quests and starting “To the Brink,” players are rewarded with the trophy. During the short time frame of the project, over 600,000 players unlocked the trophy, leading to 1,800 acres of nature to be restored globally. 

On PlayStation’s official YouTube channel, Guerrilla Games posted a video describing their journey in both bringing back nature and creating nature in Aloy’s world. As explained by vegetation artists from Horizon Forbidden West, examining real nature in such close detail for the virtual world made the team realize how humanity must sustain it, both for practical use and for its wondrous beauty.

The narration in the video states that the Playing for the Planet Alliance had a goal of planting 1 million trees in 2022. With the help of gamers worldwide, the Alliance planted a total of 2.5 million trees overall.

Even though the project is over, Aloy’s adventure is still ready to be explored. In September, Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition was announced. This version includes the base game, all previous expansions and DLCs, and additional content, such as a digital artbook and digital soundtrack. 

Horizon Forbidden West: Complete Edition is currently available to play on PS4 and PS5. A Windows version is expected to release in early 2024.